BEATING CANCER, ONE CAT® HAT AT A TIME
Construction and community keep this Kansas teen pushing forward.
Gritty. Resilient. Determined. Tough.
The words we use to describe Cat® equipment — and the people who build and operate it — are the same words that define Ethan Lif.
Though he’s still a teenager, Ethan has already proved he’s not one to back down from a challenge. Whether it’s learning to run a dozer before earning his driver’s license, pushing through a tough wrestling match or facing a battle much bigger than most high-schoolers could ever imagine, his mindset stays the same: Eyes forward.
At home in the cab
Growing up in the small, historic town of Council Grove, Kansas, Ethan was a pretty typical kid: obsessed with Legos, Star Wars and sports — wrestling and baseball in particular. His freshman year in high school, he discovered another passion: Cat machines.
“My friend’s dad owns a construction company, so I just decided to ask if he was hiring and he said yes,” Ethan says. “Operating came pretty naturally to me. I jumped in the cab and figured out how to run it pretty quick.”
Ethan started out in a Cat D6 dozer, digging ponds for Edwards Construction, then took the controls of a skid steer and a mini excavator on other projects. He even made his first trip to a Cat dealership, visiting Foley Equipment with his boss when one of the dozers needed repairs.“I like the big equipment,” Ethan says. “It’s just super cool to look at.”
An unexpected turn
In 2023, Ethan was gearing up for baseball season after finishing a demanding wrestling campaign when he started experiencing persistent leg pain. At first, his family thought it might be a torn ACL from the strain of competition.
But when the pain didn’t go away, further testing revealed osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer that most commonly affects teenagers and young adults.
“It was really earth-shattering in the beginning,” says Amy Lif, Ethan’s mom. “We were blindsided. But Ethan set the tone for all of us. From the start, he told us, ‘If you’re going to cry, step out of the room.’ He made it clear he wasn’t going to let this stop him. ‘Eyes forward’ became our motto.”
Two constants in tough times
Ethan underwent months of chemotherapy at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and then surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Though his cancer went into remission, he experienced a relapse in 2024, requiring another round of treatment. Through it all, two things remained constant: his commitment to EDWARDS CONSTRUCTION and his headgear.
“This whole journey, you would never catch Ethan without a Cat hat on,” Amy says. “He’d wear it right up to surgery, then the surgeons would take it off and put it right back on when he came out. It’s really given him hope.”
Ethan’s Cat hats became a symbol of strength, a connection to the world outside the hospital walls and a reminder to keep pushing forward.
Back to work, back to life
Ethan’s treatments were tough. Not being able to do the work he loved — that was even tougher. So the minute he got home from the hospital, he got back to the jobsite. “Literally that same day, he would get in his truck, drive to wherever they were working, hop in a machine and start digging,” Amy says. “They were good to him — he always got the cushy machine with air conditioning.”
Most days, Ethan couldn’t even climb into the cab, because he wasn’t allowed to put any pressure on his leg. He had to crab walk his way onto the dozer.
Returning to the job kept him busy, but it also helped him reclaim a sense of normalcy — proving to himself that cancer wouldn’t define him.
“It just takes my mind off stuff,” Ethan says. “It’s a stress reliever.”
A small town with a big heart
For the Lif family, community support helped ease some of the pressure associated with Ethan’s treatments.
Council Grove is the kind of town where people look out for each other, and local residents and businesses stepped up big-time. They hosted cornhole and softball tournaments, bake sales, gun raffles and even a “Second Saturday” where stores on Main Street took donations to help offset the family’s travel expenses.
Ethan’s longtime wrestling coach turned high school principal made sure he never fell behind in school, and the local newspaper (for which Ethan used to deliver papers) dubbed him a “rock star,” providing regular updates on his progress.
Ethan even served as junior grand marshal for the 2023 Washunga Days parade in Council Grove — riding in his favorite Cat dozer atop a trailer, which Edwards Construction pulled along the parade route.
And when Ethan’s first Cat hat began to fall apart from too much wear, a rep from Foley Equipment showed up on the Lifs’ doorstep with a pile of new Cat gear.
“The best way to describe the last two years is that we’ve been floating on support from the community,” Amy says. “I don’t think we would have gotten this in a big city. We would have gotten lost in the numbers.”
A lot of star power
Ethan’s story didn’t just inspire his hometown. It also caught the attention of some unexpected supporters.
As a Kansas City Chiefs “Kingdom Champion,” Ethan got to step onto the field prior to a January 2025 game, meet football legend Patrick Mahomes and walk away with a game ball — after giving Mahomes a “Team Lif” wristband in return. It was a dream-come-true moment for all the Lifs, who are lifetime Chiefs fans.
A surprise hospital visit from Taylor Swift was another unexpected moment, as was a visit from actor Paul Rudd, who bonded with Ethan over their shared love of Legos and Star Wars.
“Paul walked in and immediately saw that Ethan was building an AT-AT [All Terrain Armored Transport],” Amy says. “He just said, ‘That’s bad-ass,’ and that broke the ice. The two of them really hit it off.”
Eyes forward to the next chapter
Now a high school senior, Ethan is feeling strong and staying focused on the future. He recently made his college choice — Wichita State University — and is planning to study engineering but is also interested in marketing.
Could a career at Caterpillar or Foley Equipment be in the cards? With Ethan, anything’s possible.
His dad, Terry, puts it best: “He’s unbreakable — just like those Cat machines are. You can’t stop him.”
Follow Ethan ON FACEBOOK AT @TeamLIFe.
Did You Know?
FOLEY POWER SOLUTIONS —the energy division of Foley Industries—provides and supports the Cat generators Children’s Mercy Hospital relies on for back-up power — helping ensure critical care for patients like Ethan is never interrupted.